Common Council Special Session – Adoption of the 2025 Executive Budget & Service Plan – November 13, 2024
Common Council Special Session – Adoption of the 2025 Executive Budget & Service Plan
The Appleton Common Council held a special session on November 13, 2024, to adopt the 2025 Executive Budget & Service Plan. The meeting began at 6:00 PM and adjourned at 6:11 PM. After convening as a Committee of the Whole (acting as the Finance Committee) to consider the Finance Committee's recommendations from the November 2 Budget Saturday workshop, the Council approved the budget resolution by a 12–1 vote. A motion to reconsider the Committee's report failed unanimously, finalizing the budget.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke.
Discussion Items
- The Council suspended its rules (13–0) to enter the Committee of the Whole, chaired by Alderperson Brad Firkus, to review the November 2 Budget Saturday workshop minutes and all department and fund budgets.
- All 40+ individual budgets (Police, Fire, Library, Public Works, Parks, IT, Water, Wastewater, etc.) were approved as recommended by the Finance Committee with no additional amendments. One amendment from the Budget Saturday workshop – a $25,352 adjustment in the Library budget decreasing part-time wages and increasing fringes – had already been incorporated.
- Finance Director Ullman read the 2025 Budget Resolution, which included:
- General fund property tax levy: $39,293,263
- Debt service levy: $13,875,500
- Special revenue fund levy: $2,092,000
- Authorization to sell $11,301,180 in general obligation promissory notes or bonds
- Authorization to sell $11,000,000 in revenue-supported bonds for water, sewer, and stormwater projects
- Alderperson Chad Doran voted against the budget resolution; no other discussion occurred on the floor. Mayor Woodford thanked the Common Council, Finance Department staff (especially Director Ullman’s team working shorthanded), and department heads for their efforts.
Key Outcomes
- 2025 Budget Resolution adopted (12–1): Ayes – Siebers, Meltzer, Firkus, Smith, Van Zeeland, Fenton, Hayden, Jones, Alfheim, Wolff, Hartzheim, Croatt. Nay – Doran. Excused: Heffernan. Absent: Schultz. Mayor Woodford abstained.
- Motion to reconsider the Report of the Committee of the Whole failed (13–0), ending the budget process.
- The meeting adjourned at 6:11 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Right. Good evening. I now call to order this special session for the adoption of the twenty twenty-five executive budget and service plan. Today is Wednesday, November thirteenth, two thousand twenty-four. Please rise and join me. Roll call of officers and department heads. All are represented. All right. All right. I have no business to present to you this evening. Move on now to public participation. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? Anyone who wishes to speak. Anyone who wishes to speak. All right, hearing none, uh we will close public participation. Move on now to establishing the order of the day. First uh item on the list here is item 24-1468. Uh approve the finance committee budget workshop minutes. Uh is there a motion to refer that back. All right, we have a motion uh to refer that back. It's an automatic refer back. So uh at this time, I will entertain a motion to uh suspend the rules to go into committee of the whole, acting as the finance committee to take up the finance committee budget workshop minutes. Need a motion to suspend the rules. We have a motion and a second to suspend the rules. This is not debatable, requires a two-thirds vote to pass. Please cast your votes. All right, that motion passes 13 to 0. And at this time, I'm gonna welcome up the finance committee chair, Alder Furkus, to take us through it. All right, good evening, everyone. Uh, to get this ball rolling, we'll need a motion on item, excuse me, uh item 24-1468, the uh minutes from the budget Saturday workshop. We have our motion and a second. All right, so now with the motion on the floor, this is the point where we would be voting on any amendments that had been offered. Uh there have not been any offered in advance, correct? So uh Alder Hart sign. If I remember correctly, there was one amendment that was offered during the budget. It was, but it was addressed during budget Saturday. So that is baked in at this point. All right, so I will give one off uh one chance. Are there any last second amendments? I don't see any uh offers, so we are gonna go ahead and vote. All right, that motion passes 13 to zero. So now I will need a motion to rise and report. Is it just bringing on my note here? Yep. Rise and report. Looks like we have our motion a second. All right, so we will go ahead and vote on rising and reporting. And that passes 13 to 0. All right, we're uh out of committee of the whole, then we need a motion to approve the report of the committee of the whole. This is item 24-1471.
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